Railway car



v May 9,1944. E. G. GOODWI 2,348,376

RAILWAY CAR Original Filed July' 5, 1941 l 4 sheets-sheet 1 ,Wsw

' RAILWAY 'CAR Original Filed July 3, 1941 l E, G. GoonwlN 4 Sheets-'Sheet 3 May 9, 1944.- y E. G. GoobwlN 2,343,3764

` RAILWAY CAR l I Original Filed July 3, 1941 l`4 Sh-ee'ts-Sheet-i i NA N f gli' Patented May 9, 1944 RAILWAY cAn Ernest G. Goodwin, Toledo, Ohio, assigner to Unitcast Corporation, Toledo, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Substituted for abandoned application Serial No.

401,007, July 3, 1941. This applicaton'March 4, 1943,Serial No. 477,963

3 Claims.

My invention relates to railway cars and more particularly to improvements in doors and in mechanism for supporting the -doors of railway hopper cars in closed position.

The principal object of the invention is to provide improved means for supporting a plurality Figure 6 is an end elevational view of the hopper construction illustrated in Figure 1.

Figure 7 is a longitudinal sectional view taken on line 'I-I of Figure 6.

Figure 8 is a transverse sectional view taken on line 8 8 of Figure 1.

of hopper car doors in closed position. The hopper car chosen for purposes of illus- A primary feature of the invention consists in trating the invention is of the type'wherein the providing a pair of oppositely arranged hinged hoppers extend downwardly in pairs on opposite doors which are successively movable toward 10 sides of the center sill of the car. closed position in a predetermined order andv in Referring more particularly to the drawings, I associating with one of the doors means for supindicates one of the car hoppers which is formed porting it in a partially closed position and in asof inner and outer side sheets 2 and 3, respecsociating with the other door means forsuptively, and slope sheets 4. Rigidly attached-to porting it in fully closed position, the second the lower end of the hopper sheets is a door named door having a .portion at its free edge frame 5 having an opening through which adapted to extend beneath the free edge of the lading within the car is adapted to discharge first named door so that, when the second door by gravity. The door frame is preferably conis moved to fully closed position, the first named nected by a bracket I5 to the car center sill I6 door is caused to move therewith to a correspond- V and it may be advantageously formed as an ining position of closure and to be retained theretegral casting having inner and outer preferably by in the latter position. vertical side walls 6 and 1, respectively, which Another feature of the invention consists in incline inwardly adjacent their loWeI edges and providing a railway car having a pair of oppoterminate in sealing flanges 8. The side walls site1y arranged hinged doors for closing the lad- 25 of the door frame are integrally connected by ing discharge opening with a pivoted hook hinge butt pOFtiOnS 9, eaCh of Which iS formed for supporting one of the doors in a partially with two pairs of hineelugs I il. Depending from closed position and with a second pivoted hook the lower portion of each hinge butt of the frame for supporting the other door in partially closed iS a Sealing ange ll integrally connecting Ithe and in fully c1osed positions, the second named ao side sealing ilanges 8 of the frame- The outer door having a portion at its free edge adapted ends of the Sealing flanges 3 alone` Opposite Sides to extend beneath the rst named door so that, 0f` the'dool frame incline downwardly from the when the second named door is moved from parhinge butt portions of the frame so that, instead tially closed to fully closed position, the first of beiner disposed in a single plane, the outer named door is caused to move therewith to fully edges of the marginal flanges are disposed in two closed position and to be retained thereby in the downwardly converging planeslatter position. I Associated with the door frame are a pair of Other and more specific features of the inven- OPDOSelY hinged dOOTS l2 and I3 Which, When tion, residing in advantageous forms, combinain closed position, are respectively disposed in tions and relations of parts, will hereinafter apdownwardly converging planes. The `doors are pear and be pointed out in the claims movable to open position under 4the innuence of In the drawings, illustrating a preferred emgravity andeah iS provided With alpairof hinge bodirnent of the invention, arms Ill which are pivotally connected at their Figure 1 is a side elevational view of the lower Odiel' ends to the adjacent hinge lugs |0- portion of a hopper of a railway car illustrating `4,5 Door l2 iS formed With marginal flanges `Il, the door arrangement and the door supporting `the marginal flange ai the hinge end of the door mechanism, the doors being shown as supported preferably terminating in a lateral extension I8v in fully closed position. I and door I3 is provided with marginal flanges I9,` Figure 2 is a View similar to Figure 1 but Showeach of which has a lateral extension 20. The ing both of the doors supported in partial posi- 5o portion of door IZadJacent its free edge is adapted'. tions of closure. to project into and be received by -the free edge: Figure 3 is a detail view of the cover plate of 4portion of the door I3 so that, when the doors: `the door supporting mechanism. are disposed in closed position, door I3 underlapsr Figures 4 and 5 are sectional views taken on door I2 with the marginal ange at the free edge lines 4 -4. and 5 5, respectively, of Figure 3. 5, ``5 5 of. door ISVIinengagementwith the outer face of' outer faces of corresponding portions of the f side marginal flanges of door I2 and, in order that the portion of door I2 which is adapted to be interposed between door I3 and the door frame will not prevent door I3 from assuming'a com- Y pletely closed position, theV lower edges of the sealing flanges of the frame may be notched out as indicated at 2i and clearly shown in Figure '7.

Rigidly secured to the outer face of door I3 is an angularly shaped member 22 commonly known as a door spreader which extends beneath the center sill for attachment to a corresponding door (not shown) of the hopper (not shown) disposed on theV opposite side of the center sill I6 so :that the corresponding doors of the two hoppers may swing as one. Door I2 is likewise provided with a door spreader 23 which, as will hereinafter appear, need not be of as heavy a section as door spreader 22.

The mechanism for supporting the doors includes two pivotally mounted hooks 2li and 25, respectively. Hook 2d is arranged to cooperate with door I2 and it is formed with a ledge or shoulderzZii adapted to engage ange 21 of door spreader 23 to support door I2 in partially closed position as vshown in Figure 2. Hook 25 is adapted tocooperate with door I3 and it is formed with two ledges or shoulders 23 and 2S, respectively, for cooperating with a flange 3D of a door arm 3l which is secured to the door spreader 22 and, in effect, forms a continuation thereof. When shoulder 28 of hook 25 is in engagement with ange 30 of the door arm, door I3 is supported in a partially closed position as shown in Figure 2, and when shoulder 29 of the hook is in engagement with the door arm ange 353, door I3 will be supported in fuliy closed position as shown in Figure l.

. Not only does hook 25 function to support door I3 in fully closed position but it also functions indirectly to maintain door I2 in ully closed position because the free edge portion of door I2, which door is always moved toward closed'position before door I3, is disposedin the path of closing movement of door I3 and, therefore, as door I3 is caused to'approach fully closed .position it engages door i2 and, lifting it from its hook 24, moves it to fully closedy position, in which position it is retained by door i3 and hook 25. i

To obtain a mechanical advantage enabling the v doors to` be easily moved to fully closed position, a

fulcrumis' preferably provided for receiving a i-"ermovable door prying lever (not shown). This fulcrum maybe conveniently formed by providing a cover plate 32 which is arranged in yoverlapping relation with the outer faces of the hooks 24 and 25 with a laterally projecting portion 33 having an aperture 34 for receiving the removabie leverinot shown), the, laterally projecting Yportion 33 preferably Vbeing rigidiedaround ythe lever receiving aperture by oppositely projecting ribs or iianges 35.V With a fulcrumofthis character for receiving a removable lever, sufficient leverage may be obtained for easily moving both doors I2 and I3 from their partiallyv closed posi- .;tions shown in Figure 2`to theiriully closed positions shown in Figure 1, where they are supported by the hook 25.

Both of the hooks are preferably mounted to pivot about a common axis and, in order that the shouldered portions of the two hooks may move in substantially the same plane, the upper end of hook 24 is laterally oifset as indicated at 3S from the lower portion of the hook. The hooks may be conveniently mounted on a cylindrical boss 31 which is integral with and projects in- Wardly from the inner face of the cover plate 32 and'which, together with other similar bosses 38, 39 and 43, constitutes spacers for maintaining the cover plate in spaced relation to the adjacent vertical wall 'I of the door frame. Each of the cylindrical bosses are apertured to receive rivets 4I by which the cover plate is firmly secured to the door frame and boss 38 affords a pivotal support for a cam 42 by which hook 25 may be securely locked in door supporting position. The cover-plate 32 is also preferably integrally provided with inwardly projecting lugs 113 and 44 for respectively cooperating with hooks 24 and 25 to limit their pivotal movements toward each other.

The door arm 3l may be of the type which is capable of being adjustably secured to the door spreader so that the hool: engaging flange Se thereof may be disposed in such a Vposition that, when engaged by the shoulder 29 of the hook, the 'door will be'supported in the desired position of complete closure. The adjustment of the door arm is'effected by first rotatably securing it to the spreader 22 by a rivet 4,5 and then, afterv adjusting the arm to the position desired, an additional rivet '46 is driven through Athat one of the plurality of'apertures 4'? formed in the inner end ofthe door arm which most nearly coincides with one o f' the plurality of apertures 43 formed in the spreader. The apertures in the spreader of coursespaced a greater distance apart than the apertures in the door arm so that, by rotating the door arm about the rivet 45 'through a limited arc, different ones of the two sets of apertures are successively brought into registry. Withfour apertures in the doorarin, it will, of

`course, .be appreciated that the arm may be securedto therspreader in any one of four diner-ent positions of adjustment.

Toepen the doors and permit the lading to discharge from the hopper, the locking cam 42 'distance'uponthe release oi door i3 unless hook 2d isl held up out of the path of' downward movement of the rprojecting endof the door spreader 23. Shouid downwardmovement .of door I2 be arrested by hook .2f',it will, ofcourse, be necessary to knock the hookout of engagement with the spreader to enable the door to swing fully open.

In closing the hopper, door I2 is r'st moved toward closed position. Itiisiswungup and `supported in va partially closed position .blyrhooli 24. Door I3 is then swung'up and, supported inra partially closed position, by shoulder" ,230i hook 25. Door i3 is then inovedjby the removable prying lever if desired) toward fullygciosedposition. By reason of the overlapping engagement of the'fee edges of the two doors, door I2 is carried upwardly out of engagement with hook 24 by door I3 until they both assume fully closed position, where they are retained by shoulder 29 of hook 25 engaging the cooperating door arm.

This application is a substitute for my abandoned application Serial No. 401,007, filed July 3, 1941.

While I have illustrated and described the preferred embodiment of my invention, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modications and alterations may be made in detail features thereof Without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as d'enedin the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. In a railway car having a lading discharge opening, a pair of oppositely arranged hingeddoors respectively adapted to be disposed in downwardly converging planes for closing said lading discharge opening, each of said doors having a main body portion and upturned marginal flanges along the side and free edges thereof, means for supporting one of said doors in a partially closed position, and means engageable with the other door for supporting both of said doors in fully closed position, said marginal flanges of the doors being arranged so that when the doors are in fully closed position the portions of the side marginal flanges adjacent the free edges of the doors are in overlapping relation and the marginal anges at the free edge of each door overlaps the body portion of the other door.

2. In a railway car having a lading discharge opening, the combination with a pair of oppositely arranged hinged doors for closing said opening, said doors being movable to open position under the influence of gravity and being successively movable toward closed position in a predetermined order, one of said doors being of greater width than the other and each being provided with marginal flanges, of means for supporting the door of less width in a partially Y closed position, and means for supporting the door of greatest width in fully closed position,

the portions of the side marginal flanges adjacent the free edge of the door of greatest width being adapted to overlap correspondingportions of the outer faces of the side marginal flanges of the other door and the marginal flange at the free edge of the door of greatest width being adapted to extend beneath the other door whereby when the door of greatest width is moved to fully closed position the other door is caused to move therewith to a corresponding position of closure and to be retained thereby in the latter position.

3. A railway car having a hopper, a door frame rigid with the hopper having a lading discharge opening, downwardly extending sealing flanges surrounding said opening, a pair of doors hingedly mounted adjacent opposite sides of the frame for closing said opening, each of said doors having upturned marginal flanges along its side and hinged edges for cooperating with said sealing anges to prevent the escape of lading from the hopper, one door also having an upturned marginal flange along its free edge adapted to overlap the body portion of the other door for preventing the escape of lading from the hopper between the doors, and one of said doors being narrower than the other adjacent its free edge so that portions of the side marginal flanges adjoining the free edges of the doors are adapted to overlap each other, means for supporting one of said doors in a partially closed position, and means engageable with the other door for supporting both of the doors in a fully closed position.

ERNEST G. GOODWIN. 

